North Korea has carried out what state media claimed to be a trial of “strategic cruise missiles” launched from a submerged submarine.
The test, which included two missile launches, was carried out from Sinpo-class submarine 8.24 Yongung in Kyongpho Bay in the East Sea, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
“The drill confirmed the reliability of the weapon system and examined the underwater-to-surface offensive operations of submarine units that constitute one of other major forces of the DPRK nuclear deterrent,” the KCNA report said.
According to the agency, the two missiles hit their targets after covering 1,500 kilometer-flights that lasted “7,563 to 7,575 seconds.”
The KCNA report was preceded by South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) notice of a submarine-launched missile off the North Korean city of Sinpo.
North Korea’s trial took place hours ahead of the start of Freedom Shield, South Korea’s and United States’ largest exercise in five years.
Ahead of the start of Freedom Shield, South Korea revealed it had staged “Teak Knife” drills that included simulating precision strikes on facilities in North Korea.
The KCNA report addressed these drills, saying they could be interpreted as a declaration of war. This is why the missile launch “expressed the invariable stand of North Korea to confront a situation in which the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces are getting ever more undisguised in their anti-DPRK military maneuvers,” according to KCNA.
